Wednesday, January 11, 2017

A New Proposed California State law Compels cities: Build more, or we’ll do it for you

Every California city is required to build a certain amount of housing to meet the state goals, and many cities are ignoring it. The new law proposed in Sacramento would force cities to comply, or the state will push the projects forward. It is SB 35 and if passed then each city may be forced to fast track building projects. This takes control from the local level to the state. Most cities don’t like such bullying. It has not been written fully just yet, but it has been proposed by new state senator Scott Wiener. Other similar proposals sank in the senate. Initially the proposed law will allow control locally, but it may be more how a city will comply and not whether they comply. A San Francisco housing initiative pushed for 3,600 new homes every year through 2020. Other San Francisco Bay Area districts will create 160k new homes in the same period. We don’t have the figures for Los Angeles County, but the push from Sacramento is build, build, build regardless of location.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Getting Water from Air. An Antelope Valley Water Solution

A company has come up with a solution to the lack of water in the Valley. No well needed. The following is under development by VIVI-Labas and UC Berkeley. The following is from their website. The Water Seer device is planted six or more feet into the ground, and soil is then packed around its metal neck. The top of the Water Seer holds a vertical wind turbine, which spins internal fan blades to draw air into the subterranean chamber. Because the underground chamber portion of the Water Seer is cooled by the surrounding earth, water condenses in the reservoir to create a sort of an artificial well, from which people can draw clean, safe drinking water around the clock. It can draw up to 825 gallons of water from the air daily. The cost is projected to be under $200.The low-cost device was developed by VICI-Labs, in partnership with UC Berkeley and the National Peace Corps Association, as a possible solution for the 2.3 million people on the planet who lack regular access to safe drinking water. A single Water Seer device can collect up to 11 gallons of clean water every day with no external power supply required, and a collection of several devices can provide enough water to support a small village. The not-for-profit company will match US purchases of each unit by donating a Water Seer collection device to those in need living in developing countries or in arid climates. Water Seer launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise $77,000 to build “orchards” of water collection devices around the world. The device has already been tested as a prototype, and the latest model was finalized in August 2016 and will undergo field tests with the National Peace Corps Association once the crowdfunding campaign closes.